AMETEK (NYSE:AME) Earns Equal Weight Rating from Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Investment analysts at Morgan Stanley started coverage on shares of AMETEK (NYSE:AME) in a note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage set an “equal weight” rating and a $170.00 price target on the technology company’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential upside of 6.10% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. BNP Paribas raised AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $210.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on AMETEK from $200.00 to $197.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Bank of America upgraded shares of AMETEK from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $225.00 in a research report on Monday, December 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of AMETEK from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of AMETEK from $216.00 to $196.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, AMETEK currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $198.60.

AMETEK Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of AMETEK stock opened at $160.23 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $175.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $179.94. The company has a current ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. AMETEK has a 12-month low of $145.02 and a 12-month high of $198.33. The company has a market cap of $36.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.14.

AMETEK (NYSE:AME) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The technology company reported $1.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.02. AMETEK had a net margin of 19.83% and a return on equity of 16.94%. The business had revenue of $1.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.68 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that AMETEK will post 7.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

AMETEK declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, February 7th that allows the company to repurchase $1.25 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 2.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AMETEK news, Director Steven W. Kohlhagen sold 1,320 shares of AMETEK stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.41, for a total value of $250,021.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 22,029 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,172,512.89. The trade was a 5.65 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Thomas A. Amato sold 710 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.64, for a total value of $125,414.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 10,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,865,318.40. This trade represents a 6.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.57% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AME. Net Worth Advisory Group boosted its position in AMETEK by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Net Worth Advisory Group now owns 4,963 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $854,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of AMETEK by 5.2% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 7,570 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,303,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of AMETEK in the first quarter worth about $325,000. USA Financial Formulas raised its position in AMETEK by 27.8% during the 1st quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 464 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its position in AMETEK by 8.7% during the 1st quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 65,660 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,303,000 after purchasing an additional 5,261 shares during the last quarter. 87.43% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AMETEK Company Profile

AMETEK, Inc manufactures and sells electronic instruments and electromechanical devices in the North America, Europe, Asia, and South America, and internationally. The company's EIG segment offers advanced instruments for the process, aerospace, power, and industrial markets; process and analytical instruments for the oil and gas, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, semiconductor, automation, and food and beverage industries; instruments to the laboratory equipment, ultra-precision manufacturing, medical, and test and measurement markets; power quality monitoring and c devices, uninterruptible power supplies, programmable power and electromagnetic compatibility test equipment, and sensors for gas turbines and dashboard instruments; heavy trucks, instrumentation, and controls for the food and beverage industries; and aircraft and engine sensors, power supplies, embedded computing, monitoring, fuel and fluid measurement, and data acquisition systems for aerospace and defense industry.